The Animal Unleashed

Yours truly? Best Daily writer?

2005-04-04T23:33:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-04T23:12:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-04T23:05:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-04T21:40:00.001-04:00

The bar lines were all packed before noon

2005-04-04T21:40:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-04T21:39:00.001-04:00

Watching the second half

2005-04-04T21:39:00.000-04:00

I hype it for the camera

2005-04-04T21:38:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-04T21:37:00.000-04:00

Oh no! The Spartans are going to lose! Whatever

2005-04-04T21:36:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-04T21:33:00.000-04:00

Look at what some Nati light can do to you

2005-04-04T21:30:00.000-04:00

People getting ready to go nuts

2005-04-04T21:29:00.001-04:00

Jim Caple in action

2005-04-04T21:29:00.000-04:00

Me with the riot police

2005-04-04T21:28:00.001-04:00

People looking for a riot

2005-04-04T21:28:00.000-04:00

People acting semi-peacefully

2005-04-04T21:27:00.001-04:00

Go Green! Go White!

2005-04-04T21:27:00.000-04:00

Running away from pepper gas

2005-04-04T21:26:00.000-04:00

More running away from pepper gas

2005-04-04T21:25:00.000-04:00

More craziness

2005-04-04T21:23:00.001-04:00

Hype it!

2005-04-04T21:23:00.000-04:00

I have no idea who these girls are

2005-04-04T21:22:00.000-04:00

Damned horse police

2005-04-04T21:20:00.000-04:00

When the pepper gas rolled in

2005-04-04T21:19:00.000-04:00

At least I wasn't that guy

2005-04-04T21:17:00.000-04:00

Climbing from the river

2005-04-04T21:16:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-04T21:15:00.000-04:00

At least Dean and Caitlin helped me out

2005-04-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

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

My e-mail to one Jim Caple

2005-03-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

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"

2005-03-28T15:51:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-27T17:07:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-27T16:57:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-03-27T02:56:00.001-05:00

I take control on the way to Grand Rapids

2005-03-27T02:56:00.000-05:00

I take on Bucky Badger

2005-03-27T02:54:00.001-05:00

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

2005-03-27T02:54:00.000-05:00

I land a left jab

2005-03-27T02:53:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-27T02:52:00.001-05:00

I love hockey!

2005-03-27T02:52:00.000-05:00

Eric loves hockey!

2005-03-27T02:51:00.000-05:00

Gabe and I

2005-03-27T02:50:00.000-05:00

Yes, Chris Burke is still alive

2005-03-27T02:49:00.000-05:00

Time for some collar poppin'

2005-03-27T02:47:00.001-05:00

Schick and I

2005-03-27T02:47:00.000-05:00

Ian and Ellen

2005-03-27T02:36:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-27T02:35:00.000-05:00

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

St. Patrick's Day Weekend Column

2005-03-24T17:11:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-23T22:04:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T01:20:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-03-21T01:17:00.000-05:00

In line at Conor O'Neill's

2005-03-21T01:16:00.003-05:00

My English teacher John and I

2005-03-21T01:16:00.002-05:00

I talk in class

2005-03-21T01:16:00.001-05:00

Chillin' at Brown Jug

2005-03-21T01:16:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T01:15:00.001-05:00

Some dude picks me up at Dominick's

2005-03-21T01:15:00.000-05:00

I decide to hype it Ashley's

2005-03-21T01:14:00.002-05:00

Doing a little jig

2005-03-21T01:14:00.001-05:00

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

2005-03-21T01:14:00.000-05:00

Yeah! Pyramid!

2005-03-21T01:13:00.002-05:00

I pass out -- at 3 p.m.

2005-03-21T01:13:00.001-05:00

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

2005-03-21T01:13:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T01:12:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T01:11:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T00:55:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T00:54:00.000-05:00

Hypin' it with my pal Bernie

2005-03-21T00:53:00.001-05:00

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

2005-03-21T00:53:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T00:52:00.001-05:00

Meeting some folks at Dominick's

2005-03-21T00:52:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T00:51:00.001-05:00

Me at Ashley's

2005-03-21T00:51:00.000-05:00

When people steal my coat, they pay

2005-03-21T00:50:00.001-05:00

Me in line at Scorekeepers

2005-03-21T00:50:00.000-05:00

Another $2.50 pitcher of green beer

2005-03-21T00:49:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T00:48:00.001-05:00

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

2005-03-21T00:48:00.000-05:00

Upstairs at Scorekeepers

2005-03-21T00:47:00.000-05:00

Girls dig the photog

2005-03-21T00:46:00.001-05:00

Venegoni and me at Scorekeepers

2005-03-21T00:46:00.000-05:00

Venegoni and me at Scorekeepers

St. Patty's Day -- A True Adventure

2005-03-18T11:08:00.000-05:00

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.

The Championship drive has begun

2005-03-11T20:25:00.000-05:00

No, I don’t mean NCAA Basketball (even though I will post my Final Four here next week). I mean IM Broomball. Team Maneater began its three-game regular season with a solid 3-1 victory over the UMMGC All-Stars. Yours truly played the whole game behind the net, and gave up the only goal on a breakaway. That should not have happened, but I was rusty.

I started playing last year with some people I knew though my B-School section, where I was the MVP of the game between the two teams of Section Three. Team Maneater takes on its Section Three rival, Team Ramrod, next Tuesday at 11:20 p.m. at Yost Ice Arena. Be sure to look back here as the Co-Recreation B division season unfolds.

The British are coming! The British are coming!

2005-03-11T20:04:00.000-05:00

As I have decided to devote part of this blog to the plight of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team and its never-ending quest to take over the universe, I have to mention the big news that came out today. It was announced that the Yanks will take on England in a friendly on May 28th at Solider Field in Chicago. Both teams should be close to full-strength, despite the fact that English superstars David Beckham and Michael Owen will have yet to have finished their European club season at Real Madrid.

Needless to say, I’m pretty hyped. The two teams haven’t met since 1994, and the Americans have developed greatly as a soccer nation over the past eleven years. Although this is just an exhibition, both teams should want to win pretty badly because the U.S. will want to further establish itself in the soccer world while the English will want to avoid the “embarrassment” of losing to the United States. Maybe I’m naive, but I think the U.S. has a shot. Look forward to more updates as this encounter gets closer.

Calling all partiers!

2005-03-11T19:53:00.000-05:00

I’m currently looking for the assistance of some crazy people for my next Weekend column due out March 24th. I plan on chronicling my St. Patrick’s Day as I attend head to the bar, attend class and watch the first round of the NCAA Tournament. I’m in need of people who are willing to be photographers and fellow crazy people. Volunteers have to be (a) at least 21 years of age, (b) willing to drink at any and all hours, (c) willing to dress up and (d) have a big desire to act like a lunatic. Interested folk should e-mail bobhunt5@gmail.com. Thanks.

New Weekend Column

2005-03-11T19:50:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't now, I came out with a new Weekend Magazine column yesterday. It's basically a column about nothing, but it was pretty well recieved. You can check it out here:

http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/10/42303c63c16ca?in_archive=1

More Hey Baby!

2005-03-04T22:06:00.000-05:00

I uncovered a version of the Northwestern band playing and singing Hey Baby! from 1995 and put it on my IFS space so it can be available for downloading. It is an AAC file, and it is playable through ITunes. Enjoy!

Download

Must-see TV Alert!

2005-03-03T13:46:00.000-05:00

There are few must-see television events these days, but next week could be one of them. Next Wednesday, MTV will air the Orange Bowl episode of the Ashlee Simpson Show. In the preview, which I caught last night, Ashlee talked about how she had to change the lyrics of her song leading up to the big event. Why? I have no idea. Guess I'll have to watch (or tape it) to find out.

2005-02-28T23:57:00.000-05:00

My awesome duct tape job -- See below

A Night with Oscar

2005-02-28T23:52:00.000-05:00

I did an Oscar diary last night for a possible Weekend column. Tell me what you think.

I know that many of you were unable to catch the Oscars. Well, you no longer have to worry, since I watched the whole thing and took notes.

8:31 p.m. Show begins. People applaud. Clips are shown of movies that people have actually seen - unlike this year’s nominees.

8:34 p.m. The host for this evening, Chris Rock comes out, receives a standing ovation and mentions “Rocky V” and movie stars laugh at themselves.

8:43 p.m. Halle Berry give out some art award, and looks terrible, as usual.

8:47 p.m. The best actor in a supporting role award in given out, and is given to Morgan Freeman. Thomas Hayden Church was also nominated, which made me think. Wouldn’t it be easier for everyone if he was just referred to as “the dude from Wings.” On the red carpet, people could say “Here nominated for best supporting actor, it’s the dude from Wings.” Or, if he had won, the presenter could have said “The Oscar goes to, the dude from Wings.”

8:55 p.m. Robin Williams does a monologue. I’m guessing that it’s really hard to give a monologue in front of so many millions around the world. It’s almost as hard as trying to make fun of Robin Williams. Now maybe if Larry the Cable Guy was presenting.

9:00 p.m. Lemony Snicket’s a series of Unfortunate Events wins for make-up. Was it just me, but did anyone else think that the movie was fake when they first saw previews for it?

9:03 p.m. Beyonce sings in French. People find out how Jay-Z was invited.

9:08 p.m. More commercials are shown. I’ve always wondered what goes on during the theater during these breaks. Do you think they ever give out secret awards? Like, most unnecessary remake or sequel (like Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo), or best set food?

9:12 p.m. Chris Rock goes to the Magic Johnson theatre and interviews “regular people,” none of whom saw “Sideways,” but all of whom had seen “White Chicks.” Finally, a four-hour event can be summed up in three minutes.

9:22 p.m. Cate Blanchett wins Best Supporting Actress

9:26 p.m. Johnny Carson was remembered in a montage, including a moment when he was hosting the Oscars and Piggy from the Muppets asked him whether she was Oscar material. He responded “Maybe Oscar Meyer.” Zing!

9:30 p.m. The Best Documentary award was given out. Because of some rule, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9-11 was ineligible for nomination. But the presenter did say “The Oscar goes to. Well, it should have gone to Michael Moore. But …”

9:37 p.m. The Counting Crows performed. People wonder why Beyonce is not performing.

9:46 p.m. The camera pans back so that the whole crowd is shown, 99 percent of whom is counting down the minutes until the after party.

9:54 p.m. Some director I’ve never heard of gets recognized, further proving that the Oscars are the most masturbatory event in the history of Television.

9:56 p.m. Wait, did I just see Vin Diesel?

10:05 p.m. Beyonce sings a second song. Jennifer Lopez calls her agent.

10:12 p.m. While showing the nominees for best short animated film, random people scream, signifying that they are the one person who actually saw the movie.

10:14 p.m. The winner for best short animated film has to give his speech in the aisle. I feel bad for him. Then he talks about how great it was that the Academy honored Canadian Filmmaking. I no longer feel bad for him.

10:18 p.m. The guys who received the award for sound editing were cut off by the music after speaking for like 10 seconds. I guess they didn’t receive the memo.

10:25 p.m. Antonio Banderas sings in Spanish. Unfortunately, he did not use the guitar case/gun used in Desperado.

10:35 p.m. Natalie Portman presents. How great would it have been if she just said “I’d like to apologize to the Academy for the love plot in Star Wars: Episode II.”

10:38 p.m. More people I’ve never heard of receive awards for movies I haven’t seen.

10:49 p.m. People who died over the past year are remembered, including Ronald Regan, who was recognized as being the last Republican to get a job in Hollywood.

10:56 p.m. Beyonce makes a third appearance, giving her the most Oscar face time since Billy Crystal. This Destiny’s Child reunion thing is affecting her worse that I thought.

11:00 p.m. Prince makes an appearance, (Or is it the artist formerly known as Prince. I’m not sure) and the guy who won the award he was presenting knelt down and kissed his hand.

11:05 p.m. The best actress award is presented to Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby. After speaking for like 30 seconds, she gets cut off briefly but then band stops because it realizes that she hasn’t mentioned Clint Eastwood, and then she goes onto thank her best friend – her publicist. How cute.

11:13 p.m. Gwenth Paltrow is presented as the “Only woman ever to breast feed an apple.” Maybe this additional exposure will encourage her to name her next child Orange.

11:14 p.m. Some Spanish film wins for best foreign language film, and Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz go crazy. No one else cares.

11:17 p.m. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind wins for best original screenplay. Unfortunately, all recollection of this achievement will be erased three days later.

11:23 p.m. Jamie Foxx wins for Best Actor for portraying Ray Charles. Foxx used the piano skills he learned at Julliard during the part. I wonder if he used those skills to during his casting call for “Booty Call?”

11:37 p.m. Million Dollar Baby wins best picture. Now every girl can aspire to be a boxer. Don King is saying to himself somewhere, “Only in America.”

My near-death experience (kind of)

2005-02-26T01:59:00.000-05:00

While I was about to leave from Ann Arbor to Chicago today, I was joking with my roommate Brian, who was coming with me, that he was going to be in for more than he bargained for. It turns out that I was right – a little too right.

It all started when we pulled into the Meijer gas station, and I opened the front hood of the car to put in wiper fluid. After placing in the fluid, I closed the hood lightly where it seemed shut. You see, my hood latch is abnormal, so one cant just slam the door shut.

Well, everything seemed fine, until I was 15 miles outside of Ann Arbor when my hood started to shake slightly. I pulled off to the shoulder, only to find that my latch was broken. I still have no idea how it happened, but it did. There was no way to close my hood. After fooling around with it in while the truck whizzed and the snow fell, I decided to drive about a quarter-mile to the next exit and pull over.

About two seconds later, the hood flew open (which, by the way, is NOT COOL), I pulled over again, and Brian went in from the passenger side to slam the hood. The hood shook slightly under I pulled into a Farmer Jack parking lot. There we learned the hydraulic thing that holds the hood up broke, so now the thing can’t really open or close.

Brian and I then went to the hardware store and got lots of duct tape, and then we taped the hood of the car.

So now I sit here in Ann Arbor – and not where I should be. We’re going to give driving to Chicago, duct taped hood and all, tomorrow morning. Wish us luck.

Hey! Hey Baby!

2005-02-19T17:59:00.000-05:00

Living much of my childhood near Evanston, home of Northwestern, I have seen my share of Wildcat sporting events. This means that I have heard the Northwestern band sing its rendition of “Hey Baby!” numerous times. If you’ve never seen it, I can’t tell you how hilarious it is.

Anyway, after covering a Northwestern basketball game for the Daily, I was encouraged (while hammered) to sing the song in front of the entire Daily staff at last year’s summer staff election. Needless to say, they loved it. I was asked, and agreed to, do it again the next fall.

However, I had no idea as to the popularity of the song until last night. I made a late night appearance at a party with some Daily people, and all people wanted me to do from the second I got there was sing “Hey Baby!” At one point there were people congregating outside a room I was in because there was a rumor that I was going to sing.

Well, I finally sang. While the picture below doesn’t paint the full picture, about 50 people were in front of me singing along. It was quite an event. Some even said that it was the highlight of their evening. Who knew some drunken singing would start such a craze! Who knew!

2005-02-19T16:07:00.000-05:00

I am doing this in front of 40-50 people. I swear.

Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!

2005-02-13T01:33:00.000-05:00

A lot of people in Ann Arbor are upset about the state of the Michigan basketball team right now. Here is my opinion as given in an IM conversation I had with Michigan Daily basketball writer Eric Ambinder this evening. While this type of blog has been done before, I decided to do this rather than spend an hour writing down all my opinions about the team.

I'm Back4More4, and Eric is KnicksnGiants03:

<>KnicksnGiants03: http://newyorkgiant.blogspot.com/

KnicksnGiants03: check out the Tommy blog

Back4More4: it normally takes a minute or two to load

KnicksnGiants03: oh ok

KnicksnGiants03: its not really a column because it lacks reporting

Back4More4: he does NOT play the players that give the team the best chance of winning

KnicksnGiants03: haha i know

KnicksnGiants03: but he says he does

Back4More4: what crap

Back4More4: I really do though love how he doesn't have any answers

Back4More4: for anything

KnicksnGiants03: he really doesnt

KnicksnGiants03: no answers

KnicksnGiants03: total bullshit

Back4More4: that's because he's a crappy coach and does not know what to do

KnicksnGiants03: is it that he just doesnt know how to coach?

Back4More4: well, that's part of it

Back4More4: part of it is also he does not like to say anything

KnicksnGiants03: yeah he doesnt

KnicksnGiants03: it is true

KnicksnGiants03: his answers are very PC

Back4More4: like he does not want to be interviewed on the radio

KnicksnGiants03: really

Back4More4: no

Back4More4: they have an assistant coaches show each week

Back4More4: they wanted Tommy, but he would not do it

Back4More4: he never goes on any radio shows

KnicksnGiants03: some coaches are respected because they are so forthcoming... and Tommy behaves as if he is always hiding something

Back4More4: yeah

Back4More4: part of it is how he is

KnicksnGiants03: yeah i guess

Back4More4: but he NEVER talks strategy

KnicksnGiants03: i wonder if you can be like him and succeed at this level?

KnicksnGiants03: yeah NEVER

Back4More4: which makes me think he doesn't have any

KnicksnGiants03: You know the ONLY way a coach like him can become successful?

KnicksnGiants03: Good recruiting

KnicksnGiants03: that is it

Back4More4: get people around him that know what the hell they are doing

KnicksnGiants03: Let players like Dion just create

KnicksnGiants03: Let Dan, Lester and Dion create

Back4More4: or get McDonald's All-American

KnicksnGiants03: and run no offense

Back4More4: which is why losing Dan and Lester have crippled this team

KnicksnGiants03: that is what Coach K does... his offense is like Tommy's except his players are TOP OF THE HEAP

Back4More4: yeah

KnicksnGiants03: they can shoot, pass, penatrate

KnicksnGiants03: they make him look like a good coach

Back4More4: if Michigan had 8 McDonald's All-Americans, they would be sweet too

KnicksnGiants03: absolutely

KnicksnGiants03: he better be a damn good recruitr

KnicksnGiants03: no more walk-ons tommy

KnicksnGiants03: We want to win

Back4More4: but I think recruits are catching on

KnicksnGiants03: he'll have to get rid of three walkons next year

Back4More4: and we don't have great facilities

KnicksnGiants03: no we dont

Back4More4: no, because we pick up scholarships

KnicksnGiants03: really

KnicksnGiants03: how many do we pick up

Back4More4: I think 2

Back4More4: and we lose Mathis

Back4More4: so there's three

KnicksnGiants03: oooooohhhhh

KnicksnGiants03: wow

KnicksnGiants03: Mathis was terrible

KnicksnGiants03: how many non-scholarship players can we have?

Back4More4: he's a tommy player

Back4More4: i think as many as we want

Back4More4: just only so many can dress

KnicksnGiants03: Half of the roster cant play Div. 1 basketball:

Back4More4: Dani Wohl rode the bench at Binghamton

KnicksnGiants03: Dani, Sherrod, John, J.C., Amadou, Alex

KnicksnGiants03: all six have no real game

KnicksnGiants03: they arent even roll players

Back4More4: Ashtyn Bell was recruited by D-II and D-III schools

KnicksnGiants03: wow

KnicksnGiants03: I bet it would be great to see where these 6 were recruited OTHER than Michigan

Back4More4: uh, no where

Back4More4: actually, J.C. was at Virgina

KnicksnGiants03: wouldnt that be an interesting column... show where half of Michigan's roster was recruited

KnicksnGiants03: yeah true

KnicksnGiants03: but why did he transfer?

Back4More4: but we do have some talented players

KnicksnGiants03: maybe he knew he wouldnt be on the team the following year

KnicksnGiants03: yeah we do

Back4More4: and one of the most talented bigcourts in the Big 10

KnicksnGiants03: we have 3 good guards and 4 roll-playing big men

KnicksnGiants03: i do agree

KnicksnGiants03: but circumstance keeps our two best players off the court

Back4More4: i really feel like we could be average if we had decent coaching

Back4More4: with the current roster

Back4More4: not NCAAs, but NIT

KnicksnGiants03: yeah if we ran an offense as fast as ACC teams, instead of taking shots after 20 seconds expire off the clock

Back4More4: playing "Tresselball" in hoops does not work

KnicksnGiants03: haha no it doesnt

Back4More4: also, with all the best players going pro, it's more about the team than ever

KnicksnGiants03: yeah thats true

KnicksnGiants03: it will be very hard for this team to get better

Back4More4: the reason why Illinois is so good is how they play together

Back4More4: more so than the talent

Back4More4: other than the three guards, that team is not that talented

Back4More4: but they distribute the ball so well

KnicksnGiants03: yeah they do play great team bball... they have great ball movement

KnicksnGiants03: yeah they are fast

KnicksnGiants03: and can pass

KnicksnGiants03: and are well coached

Back4More4: they can create open space

KnicksnGiants03: when was the last time one of our players took an open shot?

KnicksnGiants03: like a wide open three

KnicksnGiants03: ?

Back4More4: because they can't get one

KnicksnGiants03: i seriously think 95 percent of Michigan's shot attempts are contested

Back4More4: with no ball movement

Back4More4: THEY ARE

Back4More4: ALL TOMMY

KnicksnGiants03: yeah that is trye

KnicksnGiants03: dude... im going to stop counting

KnicksnGiants03: i mean start

KnicksnGiants03: the possessions they take uncontested shots

Back4More4: which explains why the team goes on 4-minute droughts

Back4More4: but the worst is the off the ball movement

KnicksnGiants03: yeah its terrible

KnicksnGiants03: they just trudge around

KnicksnGiants03: they dont sprint

KnicksnGiants03: or move

Back4More4: Michigan is really easy to defend because they don't move around

KnicksnGiants03: that is true... they never tire out there opponents

KnicksnGiants03: the other team's starters are always on the court

Back4More4: they only thing they do is Graham Brown goes beyond the three-point line to catch a pass

Back4More4: and then cannot dribble

KnicksnGiants03: haha.. yes or Chris Hunter tries to penetrate from teh 3-point line

Back4More4: which is all a stall-tactic in order to kill clock

Back4More4: for as team-oriented as Tommy is, his team's do not play like teams

KnicksnGiants03: nope... they play not to lose.... they dont "play to win the game."

KnicksnGiants03: when i said "nope" i was agreeing with you

Back4More4: did you know that Michigan has scored more than 70 points just five times this season

Back4More4: FIVE

KnicksnGiants03: yeah

KnicksnGiants03: dude... the've scored over 60 points ONCE in the past eight games

Back4More4: yeah

Back4More4: that can't be all Daniel Horton

KnicksnGiants03: no way

KnicksnGiants03: its the "dont shoot before 15 seconds on the clock" offense

Back4More4: we may lose out

KnicksnGiants03: i think we will

Back4More4: man, 12-19

Back4More4: that would be one hell of a record

KnicksnGiants03: yeah it would

KnicksnGiants03: from 23 wins to 12

KnicksnGiants03: OUCH

KnicksnGiants03: huge blow

Back4More4: If Amaker really went to Virginia, that would be amazing

KnicksnGiants03: it would

KnicksnGiants03: I still ahve to look into that

KnicksnGiants03: maybe i can talk tosomeone at viginia

Back4More4: could Virginia really be that stupid

KnicksnGiants03: hahah

KnicksnGiants03: yes

Back4More4: he could get crushed in the ACC

KnicksnGiants03: the ACC's first ever black coach...

Back4More4: really!

Back4More4: WOW

KnicksnGiants03: its great PR

KnicksnGiants03: I think so

Back4More4: yeah

KnicksnGiants03: i think I read that somewhere

Back4More4: If i'm him, I leave though

KnicksnGiants03: than his "image" thing is shot, isnt it

KnicksnGiants03: First SH now Mich

KnicksnGiants03: Virginia will be scared

KnicksnGiants03: if the team does poorly the first couple of years

Back4More4: who knows

Back4More4: maybe he could recruit really well down there

KnicksnGiants03: dude, when does Comcast re-run the game?

KnicksnGiants03: I want to count the uncontested shots as well as the shot clock

Back4More4: it was on ESPN

Back4More4: so I have no idea

KnicksnGiants03: i think they will re-run it sometime tonight

Back4More4: I have a tape of the second half of the Illinois game though

KnicksnGiants03: really

KnicksnGiants03: haha

Back4More4: you could look at that

KnicksnGiants03: just in case, huh

KnicksnGiants03: haha

KnicksnGiants03: ok maybe i will

Back4More4: i called my folks

KnicksnGiants03: good shit

KnicksnGiants03: can you bring it on Tuesday

Back4More4: yeah

Back4More4: hey, I didn't know eight-straight losses tied a school record

KnicksnGiants03: they lost a huge string ... like 13 back in 81-82 but .....

KnicksnGiants03: one of the games in the middle against Purdue, a loss, was changed to a win

KnicksnGiants03: so the last time they lost 8 in a row was "really" 38 seasons ago

KnicksnGiants03: where does it say a school record

Back4More4: the DetNews

KnicksnGiants03: Eligon

KnicksnGiants03: wait he is freep

KnicksnGiants03: Spidafore

Back4More4: http://www.detnews.com/2005/msu/0502/07/D06-81875.htm

KnicksnGiants03: thanks

Back4More4: check out the state rankings

Back4More4: part

Back4More4: this was written before Tuesday's game

KnicksnGiants03: wpw

KnicksnGiants03: wow

KnicksnGiants03: i guess it is a school record

Back4More4: I love how Spadafore calls Tommy's offense a "motion offense"

Back4More4: NO ONE MOVES

KnicksnGiants03: hahaha

KnicksnGiants03: yeah Spadofore i dont agree with all the time

Back4More4: no

Back4More4: he went on TKA and said that without injuries the team would have been 17-4

Back4More4: which is a joke

KnicksnGiants03: are you serious

KnicksnGiants03: wow

KnicksnGiants03: that is crazy

KnicksnGiants03: amazing

KnicksnGiants03: i feel like you should blog this conversation

Back4More4: i could

Back4More4: maybe I will

KnicksnGiants03: its very telling

KnicksnGiants03: and insightful

KnicksnGiants03: include what we are saying now in the blog, too

Back4More4: sure thing

KnicksnGiants03: haha

Back4More4: another thing, have any of Coach K's former assistants been that successful

Back4More4: Missouri is not doing that well

KnicksnGiants03: good question

KnicksnGiants03: who else worked there

KnicksnGiants03: we played a couple this season

Back4More4: i'm sure I could get a list

Back4More4: the dude at fairfield

KnicksnGiants03: yeah that would be interesting

KnicksnGiants03: right right

Back4More4: is Mike Brey still at ND?

KnicksnGiants03: hmmm

KnicksnGiants03: i think he is

KnicksnGiants03: he is somewhat successful but does have talented guards

Back4More4: they were in the top-25 preseason, but are not now

Back4More4: Coach K's former players and assistants are head coaches at the Division I level: Tommy Amaker (Michigan), Mike Brey (Notre Dame), Jeff Capel (Virginia Commonwealth), Neil Dougherty (TCU), David Henderson (Delaware), Tim O'Toole (Fairfield) and Quin Snyder (Missouri).

Back4More4: from the Duke website

KnicksnGiants03: wow

KnicksnGiants03: quite a list

KnicksnGiants03: none really stand out to me

Back4More4: no

KnicksnGiants03: do any to you?

Back4More4: i think Delaware was good at one point

Back4More4: so was Mizzou

KnicksnGiants03: yeah true... mizzou went to teh sweet 16 2 or 3 years a go

Back4More4: but they have been disappointing too

Back4More4: kind of like Michigan!

Back4More4: well, I don't know enough about Duke basketball to blame this on Coach K

KnicksnGiants03: haha wow... interesting trned

KnicksnGiants03: y eah either do i

Back4More4: but it's funny

KnicksnGiants03: but still, none have been really successful

KnicksnGiants03: it is

Back4More4: the media LOVES duke

KnicksnGiants03: Coach K probably taught them how to be great recruiters... thats it

Back4More4: no kidding

Back4More4: Tommy's a great face guy

KnicksnGiants03: all about the face

KnicksnGiants03: good salesman

Back4More4: yeah

KnicksnGiants03: Quote from Dion today:"That's real tough when they quick opportunities to score and when they execute those. And they finish there plays. And then we go down and are wasting 25 seconds and going and then we don't get anything. That's deflating when you trying to come back and you are wasting time again."

Back4More4: that's fire

Back4More4: watching this team try to score is pain

KnicksnGiants03: Dion must hate the offensive game plan

Back4More4: for real

Back4More4: it's either him or nothing

Back4More4: to have to create on every possession is absurd

KnicksnGiants03: exactly

KnicksnGiants03: Dion or bust

KnicksnGiants03: Dion or terrible 13 foot turnaround from Sims

KnicksnGiants03: or graham jump hook he cant hit

KnicksnGiants03: well dude im out actually... im exhausted

KnicksnGiants03: great insight from talking with you

KnicksnGiants03: laaater

Back4More4: peace

KnicksnGiants03 signed off at 1:26:06 AM.

United States 2, Trinidad and Tobago 1

2005-02-13T01:19:00.000-05:00

As promised, although I admit a bit late, I'm giving a U.S. "Road to the World Cup" update. The Americans played pretty well under the situation and won 2-1. But the most enjoyable part of watching the game was seeing the stadium. You see, the Trindad soccer stadium was being used for Carnival, so they had to use the 100-plus-year-old cricket stadium. It was pretty ghetto. The best part was when they showed the broadcast team calling the game from a scafolding. They had simply a folding table with an eight-inch monitor. Pretty Hilarious.

We are a soccer nation!

2005-02-09T04:37:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I like soccer. I've never really had a solid grasp as to why I like the beautiful game, other than maybe my status as a wannabe eurosnob, but I've enjoyed the sport for sometime. I would encourage y'all to check out my column, It's soccer time, get hyped for it, in Tuesday's Michigan Daily about this.

In the column, I write about my excitement as the United States enters the final stage in its qualification for World Cup 2006 in Germany. With the format, I don't see any way that the United States cannot qualify. In the six-team, ten-game round-robin over the next year, all the U.S. has to do to qualify is place in the top-three. And, even if it finishes fourth, it could qualify by winning a home-and-home tie against a second-rate Asian nation. In other words, not qualifying would be worse than Tommy Amaker leading Michigan to a sub-.500 season.

Regardless, I'm excited to be able to watch international sports that I care about. So, in celebration, I will use this blog as my outlet for all World Cup qualifying commentary. Here is my prediction, based on little knowledge, for the results of the "Hexagonal."

1. Mexico
2. United States
3. Costa Rica
4. Guatemala
5. Trinidad and Tobago
6. Panama

The U.S. starts off by playing in Port of Spain, Trinidad today at 2:30 p.m. It's a crucial contest for the Americans because it plays its next qualifier in March in Mexico City, where they have never won. An 0-2 hole, while not deadly, would be a tough place to start. My guess, both teams draw at one.

Entering the wonderful world of … the workforce

2005-02-05T03:09:00.000-05:00

Every college senior, no matter who they are, gets asked the same question: “So, what are you doing next year?” For people this can be kind of exciting. They get to answer in ways such as “Oh, I just got into early admission at Yale Law School!” Or, “I just got an offer to be an analyst at Goldman Sachs making $55,000 a year!”

But for most people, this can be a pretty dreadful part of your day. I am one of those people. Covering the football team of the Michigan Daily this past fall, I was working about 50 hours a week. While that was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything, one of the downsides of this was that I didn’t spend one minute thinking about the rest of my life.

So when people ask me this question, I usually have little to answer. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do (I think), but as of right now I have applied for exactly ONE job. Considering that as of May I will have nothing to do except mooch off of my parents until they throw me out, this is not a good thing.

The whole process makes me wonder how insane people were about colleges when I was in high school. You see, I went to one of those “really competitive” high schools where everyone’s parents used what schools their kids were applying to as a status symbol at cocktail parties. Last fall, my parents were freaking out every time I talked with them on the phone about how my brother (the anti-blog one, bastard) hadn’t filled out his applications yet. This, I swear, consisted of 80% of the conversation I had with them during this time.

The thing with colleges though is that all you have to do is look at a college book and you see all of your options laid out right in front of you. With job searching, it is not this way. There are an infinite amount of options, and people seem to have a much smaller clue of what the hell they want to do. Unless, of course, you decide to go to law school just because you are afraid of the workforce. These people normally end up hating their lives. Not all people who go to law school are like this, but many are. But there is hope for me. Today after working out, I received an e-mail from the company of the ONE job I have applied for, and they are bringing me in for a full day of interviews! Considering the lack of luck I had last year finding an internship, this is a pretty lucky occurrence. If I actually got the job (knock on wood), it would be even more amazing for a variety of reasons.

I have realized, however, that knowing what you want to do right when you get out of school isn’t the worst thing. Since you have your whole life ahead of you, I really feel like you should be patient and try to find a job that you think you would really enjoy. That’s the approach that I’ve tried to take.

For people who don’t know what the hell you are doing, I say don’t worry do much. Because once you start working, that’s it. The really scary thing is that pretty soon you could be popping out kids and living in the suburbs.

Give in to the Blog Revolution!

2005-02-02T01:18:00.000-05:00

After seeing a few of my friends create blogs of their own, I decided to make one for myself. I figured that I have a lot of random thoughts, so why not put them on the internet? This is what the internet is for. Right?

At the thought of creating my own blog, I became very excited and even convinced my roommate, Brian Schick, to establish his own blog (Schick Happens). So I guess you can say I am "pro-blog," just as people are "pro-choice" and other such things.

But some people have yet to understand how awesome the ability to write about things like how shitty your parking garage is on the internet. When I proudly announced my intention to start a blog today to my brother, he immediately proclaimed that blogs were stupid and said that "Haven't these people tried talking to actual people."

People who don't understand the power of the blog just don't get the value in being able to write freely for all. As my english professor says, you need to "make the private public" (even though some will say that I get an F in that subject).

The point is, this is the 21st century, and it's time to give in to the Blog Revolution!