My brother will be joining us. He lives in Illinois, but is he a Meeeechigan fan? His AOL name is Wolverienstra. I was thinking of him yesterday as I read a really good article from
Slate on the game. At this quote in particular, I was quite sure Johnny ghost-wrote the whole thing:
Buckeye fans are probably counting on Troy Smith, a shoo-in for the Heisman at this point, working the same magic he used on Michigan the last two times he faced us. Don't count on it. The Wolverines' last defensive coordinator, who peed down the side of his leg every time he faced a mobile quarterback and whose name I cursed every morning when I awoke and every night when I went to bed, is finally gone. Our new coordinator plays a far more aggressive style.I am not the sort of fan who remembers offensive and defensive coordinators, but Johnny could pretty much name the entire U of M coaching staff for the past 20 years.
And speaking of coaches, this afternoon, after the sad news of the passing of UM football coach Bo Schembechler, I received the following email, which I found altogether too funny not to post so that the rest of world can learn why I think my friend Todd Kleinhuizen is one of the funniest guys in the world.
O.K., Ron, tell me how you and the rest of the Wolverine nation managed to orchestrate Bo Schembechler's death on the eve of THE BIGGEST OSU/UM match up ever?(c) 2006, Todd "Wolfgang" Kleinhuizen
If ever the stage was set for a story-book game, the stuff of which hoary college football legends are made, this is it.
Imagine this scenario: Michigan leads by two points with a couple ticks remaining. The Buckeyes are lined up for a very makeable 32 yard field goal to win. The kick is up ... suddenly, an inexplicable zephyr puffs across the field pushing the kick ... just ...the tiniest bit ... WIDE!!!
Pandemonium ensues. The Michigan victory will be credited to the intervention of Bo's spirit wafting that pigskin away from the uprights. From then on, whenever Michigan faces a critical field goal attempt from an opponent, the Michigan faithful will solemnly chant: "Oh, Bo ..., Oh, BO!" seeking his benevolent intercession from beyond as on that fateful November 18, 2006.
GO BLUE!!!
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2 comments:
Great post...too funny. I do hope, however, that we are leading by more than 2 with a couple of ticks remaining!
GO BLUE INDEED!
And hats off to Bo, whom we all grew up watching.
. . . good morning. what a lovely blog.
everything about this morning has me welling up with tears, which doesn't, of course, stop it from being a good morning, but i'm not sure what's going on.
the latest moment of welling up comes in reading this post of yours, anticipating The Game, so full of excitement and joie de vivre, a moment in time captured -- as if in amber or between between sheets of mica -- for what currently passes for eternity.
We so rarely get to preserve the instants just BEFORE our lives were changed by an appreciable moment. This post, with its innocence of a sudden death, seems to have captured one of those moments.
i ran across y'all's blog just now -- how? i'm flipping thru the webpages to see what i was looking for -- ah, because i'm listening to prairie home companion and they just sang a hymn and i wanted to sing with them and was googling for the text ("now thank we all our God," and I was somehow led here. Didn't find the text, but
the song is now over, and I've been drawn to your translation of Augustine and your very evocative pictures of your family, and the family parlour performance, and a mimi-treatise of why men are moved to chainsaws (a longstanging question in my family since 1975, when my maternal grandfather suddenly began cutting down all the trees in the yard, and could not really explain why, save to say that they were making a mess for him to continually rake and pick up after. that and that he enjoyed wearing earplugs. . :) )
oops -- just missed Guy Noir whilst listening to your family instead. a worthy reason to miss it.
i was so hungry for church this morning; my home service is at 11:15, so I was very disappointed to toddle over to the computer and check out the local church schedule. seems the service was beginning in two minutes and i was as yet unbathed and a 15 minute drive away. Garrison Keillor is the best preacher I knnow of when one doesn't have access to more traditional worship.
peace to you all, and thanks for your thoughtful blog, which seems to take in much of y'all's well-lived lives.
best wishes from a woman who also expects to be an old church lady, and who looks forward to it.
tandysolomon@yahoo.com
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